


Numbers don't lie

by AriadneKnowsTheWay



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Beyond Birthday is His Own Warning, Beyond Birthday is already traumatized, Child Beyond Birthday, Childhood, General Creepiness, L doesn't know how to act, M/M, Missing Scene, Orphans, Teen L Lawliet, Wammy's House (Death Note), Watari neither
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27488689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadneKnowsTheWay/pseuds/AriadneKnowsTheWay
Summary: “You’re a liar, B”.He thought he affected him, somehow.“Yes”. That simple monosyllable, completely unexpected, almost made him drop the cube from his hands.
Relationships: Beyond Birthday/L
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Numbers don't lie

“Adults always lie” said Beyond Birthday on a cold January morning, sprawled in a chair. As usual, he was busy emptying yet another jar of strawberry jam, holding it in his hands and using his fingers as spoons.  
  
L, busy calculating how much sugar a coffee cup could contain, looked at him for a moment. He couldn’t understand what might have prompted Beyond to say such a thing.  
  
“Not everyone” he said, cautiously.  
  
“Yes. All adults always lie” insisted B, with the same stubbornness that a seventy-year-old could have had, not a nine-year-old boy.  
  
  
They stared at each other for a few more moments, the boy and the detective, blood-red eyes and black eyes marked by deep dark circles. L and B, B and L.  
  
B was the first to look away, turning his attention back to the jam that was smearing his white fingers.  
  
L, on the other hand, even though he looked away, kept his eyes on him without being noticed.  
  
  
It was Watari who told him to have a chat with that child. The old man just couldn’t figure out how to deal with him.  
  
Practically every day there were children running to him in tears, saying that B had frightened them with some weird action or one of his horror stories, that were dripping blood and full of fanged creatures.  
  
Only A seemed to exert some influence on B... a sort of ascendant that seemed to keep him at bay somehow.  
  
  
But it couldn’t go on like that, the day before B had almost broken the wrist of a little girl guilty of having tasted some of his precious jam.  
  
A wasn’t there, busy wandering around who knows where, so it was Watari who had to take on the task of scolding B, who all the time maintained a careless and deaf attitude in the face of man’s reproaches.  
  
The worst part came when Watari, telling B that he would no longer tolerate such behavior, tried to get him to admit that he was sorry.  
  
Not only had B refused, but he had even gone so far to say that he didn't do it, which was meaningless given that there were more than thirty witnesses who claimed the exact opposite.  
  
  
“Watari told me you almost broke Millicent’s wrist” commented L out of the blue. As was to be expected, B denied it again.  
  
“It wasn’t me. That’s a lie”.  
  
“Watari never lies, Beyond. Besides, why should he?” L reasoned.  
  
The child didn’t answer.  
  
“What _you_ have said is called a lie. To deny the truth, to omit it in part or completely, to say something that doesn’t correspond to reality is to lie”.  
  
Still no reaction.  
  
The jar was practically finished.  
  
L played with a sugar cube, looking at it thoughtfully.  
  
“You’re a liar, B”.  
  
He thought he affected him, somehow.  
  
  
“Yes”. That simple monosyllable, completely unexpected, almost made him drop the cube from his hands.  
  
“Are you a liar?”  
  
“Yes” repeated B.  
  
L couldn’t see the child’s face. “But... if you’re a liar, you must have some truth to distort. Do you have any truth to distort?”  
  
He didn’t bother to use a simpler language. He knew he didn’t need to.  
  
  
Beyond raised his eyes and stared at him.  
  
No hesitation, no regrets, no feelings that could be defined human.  
  
“Yes, I do”.  
  
“And who told you that?”  
  
Silence.  
  
“The numbers”.  
  
“… I’m afraid I haven’t…”  
  
“Oh, you understood perfectly well” interrupted the child abruptly. “The numbers! Numbers don’t lie, they always tell the truth!”  
  
“Numbers”.  
  
“Yes, numbers”.  
  
Silence again.  
  
“Do you want to know what your numbers are, Lawliet?”  
  
An icy chill ran down the detective’s spine. Despite himself, L found himself staring at that child, speechless for the first time in his life. He wondered what the hell he really was, whether victim or executioner. A question arose spontaneously.  
  
“How do you know my name?”  
  
“I told you, Lawliet, but you don’t listen!” exclaimed Beyond, who seemed sincerely frustrated. He lifted a slender little finger, like a teacher repeating the explanation he had already given to the unattentive students.  
  
“Numbers don’t lie…”, he bent his torso slightly forward, his pupils glued on the detective in a way that could only be described as disturbing, “… _never_ ”.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve always had a soft spot for Beyond Birthday, and reading Another Note only increased my curiosity. It would be nice if they made it into manga/anime form. Let me know what you think and please, forgive grammar errors (still looking for a beta reader btw)


End file.
